Tips on Traveling on Day Trips with Gluten-Free Kids
5) Fast and convenient doesn’t have to be packaged/processed food. If you’re really strapped for time, buy the apple slices or the already-chopped melon. Sure it will cost you more money but if you’re committed to a whole foods approach, it should be worth the extra cash. Most supermarkets will have pre-cut/pre-sliced veggies and fruit in the produce section. Grab some pre-cut celery and swing over and grab a small tub of natural peanut butter and you have a quick snack!
6) Build in an extra 30 minutes. If you want to leave at 10 am, set your time to be ready to leave at 9:30. Chances are you are going to forget something or be rushed, and having this padding helps the momma from losing her ever-loving mind before she even gets in the car.
7) Keep your car stocked. Often, we end up staying longer at places than we anticipated. Be it a friend’s barbecue, stuck in traffic, at a show or museum and the lunch and snacks we packed are long gone. This is when the stocked car helps. In both of our consoles, we have a few of these stocked away:
as well as some juice boxes. Is it ideal? No. But we’re human and when you’re stuck in a two-hour traffic jam, you do what you gotta do. You can also keep your car stocked with nuts, dried fruit, pumpkin seeds, etc. I don’t recommend keeping bottled water in a car due to the leaching of chemicals the plastic into the water in the heat (but that’s just me).
8) Know what “quick” items you CAN grab. Educate yourself and know what things you would be able to purchase in a convenience store if you had to. Beef Jerky? No. It often is made with soy sauce/teryaki which contains wheat. Mixed nuts? Check for malt or caramel flavoring. These days, most convenience stores carry lots of nuts, trail mixes, cheese sticks, etc. Just always read ingredients. And if you’re ever really stuck, plain Potato Chips (when the ingredients are just potatoes, salt, and oil) may not be the healthiest choice but they are GF safe and will almost always quiet a hungry kid.
9) If you know what city you’re going to and want to eat out, check out the GlutenFree Registry. It has over 19,600 restaurants logged in for cities all over the country. You should be able to locate something in or near the area you’re going to. Call ahead the week before to talk to staff, make reservations, etc. You can also turn to Twitter or Facebook and ask if anyone from or near that city has any good recommendations for gluten-free dining with kids. Use the hashtags #glutenfree, #gf, or #celiac and you’d be surprised how many helpful people there are in the community.
10) Ease up if you can. If you’re like me and feed your kids a natural whole-foods diet 95% of the time, than packing a bag of Glutino pretzels for a road trip does not make you Mommy Dearest (WIRE HANGERS!). Unless your child has other food or dye sensitivities, use the day trips as a “fun” day and let them pick one treat they normally wouldn’t have. You want them (and you!) to have fun on these trips, not worry about everything. Kids are kids. Vanilla ice cream for dinner never hurt anyone (assuming they’re not dairy-free!)
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Here are the rest of the amazing contributions from this month. I hope you get the time to check them out: I know many of these women personally and their tips and tricks are truly from the best.
Monday May 2nd Diane from The WHOLE Gang sharing Easy Gluten Free Grocery Shopping Tips
Tuesday May 3rd Iris from The Daily Dietribe sharing on How to Start a Gluten Free Diet.
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